{"id":286055,"date":"2026-05-13T08:53:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T13:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/?p=286055"},"modified":"2026-05-13T08:53:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T13:53:41","slug":"the-architect-her-co-op-used-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2026\/05\/13\/the-architect-her-co-op-used-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer\/","title":{"rendered":"The architect her co-op used turned out to be a serial killer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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One July morning in 2023, I was driving my son to an art class when my friend Amy Ryan called. The Gilgo Beach serial killer had just been identified and taken into custody.\u201cYou will not believe who it is,\u201d she reported: \u201cIt\u2019s<\/em> Rex Heuermann.<\/em>\u201d However unlikely it was that the two of us \u2014 lifelong New Yorkers in middle age, one a journalist, the other, an Oscar- and Tony-nominated actress \u2014 would know a serial killer merely by way of our domestic routines, it is in fact where we had landed. Heuermann was a consulting architect who worked with the stewards of several well-kept prewar apartment buildings in Brooklyn. I dealt with him briefly over the reconstruction of a courtyard garden when I served on my co-op board in Brooklyn Heights. I sat in occasional basement meetings with him talking about, as I vaguely recall, things like drainage efficiency. But Heuermann had been in Amy’s apartment, arguing with her architect. (via the NYT<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This 400-year-old Lithuanian oak was just named the European Tree of the Year<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The 400 year old Oak of Laukiai once stood almost forgotten, known only to the people of the small Rukai village. A year ago, however, the local community restored the area around the tree and organised a celebration in its honour, bringing people together and reminding them of its quiet strength. Today, the sixth generation of the Laukiai people is growing up alongside this oak. The Old Wild Apple Tree, which placed second, has withstood wind, rain, snowstorms, and heat waves for more than 150 years, growing in harsh conditions at an altitude of 860 meters. From a place called Diel, it quietly watches over the village below \u2013 a silent observer of its joys, troubles, and changes. The third placed Crooked Elm <\/strong>of Szyslowiec rises above the moat on an island near the former castle of the Szyd\u0142owiecki and Radziwi\u0142\u0142 families. Its unusual shape comes from its location, forcing it to lean toward the water. This year, for the first time, the trees competed for Tree points instead of votes. (via Tree of The Year<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note<\/strong>: This is a version of my When The Going Gets Weird newsletter, which I send out via Ghost, the open-source publishing platform. You can\u00a0see other issues\u00a0and sign up here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

A medical doctor won the equivalent of $8 million by figuring out how to beat roulette<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Many gamblers see roulette as a game of pure chance \u2014 a wheel is spun, a ball is released and winners and losers are determined by luck. Richard Jarecki refused to believe it was that simple. Jarecki was not the sort of rakish bon vivant that might come to mind as the epitome of a successful gambler. He was a married medical doctor and researcher at Heidelberg University in Germany. The Sydney Morning Herald described him in 1969 as \u201crather tall and slim and reedy \u2014 looking just like a professor should, complete with a rumpled suit and a bewildered look.\u201d That look concealed a keen eye for detail and a sharp mathematical mind, which Dr. Jarecki first turned to the problem of roulette in Germany in the early 1960s. He became the scourge of European casinos in the 1960s and early \u203270s by developing a system to win at roulette. And win he did, by many accounts accumulating more than $1.2 million, or more than $8 million in today\u2019s money. (via the NYT<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hi everyone! Mathew Ingram here. I am able to continue writing this newsletter in part because of your financial help and support, which you can do either <\/em>through my Patreon<\/em><\/a> or by upgrading your subscription to a monthly contribution. I enjoy gathering all of these links and sharing them with you, but it does take time, and your support makes it possible for me to do that. I also write a weekly newsletter of technology analysis called <\/em>The Torment Nexus<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travellers remember the legendary Boston-to-New York “Fung Wah” bus line<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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When Ayo Edebiri shouted out the Fung Wah bus on the Today show, the mention brought back memories for anyone who once took the cheap, chaotic ride between Boston and New York. The Boston-born star of The Bear recalled taking the low-cost bus with her mother from Boston to New York, where they would try to rush Broadway shows. debiri described it as a $10 or $15 ride from Boston\u2019s Chinatown to New York that could get passengers there in \u201cunder four hours \u2014 sometimes three.\u201d But, as Edebiri put it, the cheap fare came with a certain amount of uncertainty. The bus might catch fire. It might break down in Connecticut. It might leave passengers to \u201cfigure it out\u201d at an IHOP somewhere between Boston and New York. We asked readers to share their memories of the Fung Wah, and the responses were just as chaotic. They remembered cheap fares, fast rides, breakdowns, missed pickups, highway scares, and fires. (via Boston.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to build an inexpensive hydrophone for listening to whale songs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Whale songs were first noticed by accident, when analysts tracking Russian submarines at the height of the cold war heard cetacean interference instead. An engineer sent some recordings to Roger Payne, a biologist friend of his, who did something that proved pivotal: he played the hours-long recordings on his hi-fi at home, while he went about his day. By listening for hours at a time, Payne noticed that these vocalizations weren\u2019t simple chirps, but complex structured social patterns \u2014 songs, even. A trendy topic in biology now is \u201cpassive acoustic monitoring,\u201d the science of understanding ecosystems through their soundscapes. While participating in Dinacon 2025 in Les, Bali, I investigated different techniques for collecting and listening to bioacoustic field recordings. First, running a workshop to make inexpensive and radically accessible hydrophones that work as simply as a computer microphone. Secondly, expanding the hydrophone to stereo. By using multiple hydrophones at different depths, a stereo field can be constructed. (via Exclaves<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultramarathon legend Rachel Entrekin becomes the first woman to win the Cocodona 250<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Acknowledgements<\/strong><\/em>: I find a lot of these links myself, but I also get some from other places that I rely on as “serendipity engines,” such as <\/em>The Morning News<\/em><\/a> from Rosecrans Baldwin and Andrew Womack, Jodi Ettenberg’s <\/em>Curious About Everything<\/em><\/a>, Dan Lewis’s <\/em>Now I Know<\/em><\/a>, Robert Cottrell and Caroline Crampton’s <\/em>The Browser<\/em><\/a>, Clive Thompson’s <\/em>Linkfest<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>Why Is This Interesting<\/em><\/a> by Noah Brier and Colin Nagy<\/em>. If you come across something you think should be included here, feel free to email me at mathew @ mathewingram dot com<\/em><\/p>\n

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One July morning in 2023, I was driving my son to an art class when my friend Amy Ryan called. The Gilgo Beach serial killer had just been identified and taken into custody.\u201cYou will not believe who it is,\u201d she reported: \u201cIt\u2019s Rex Heuermann.\u201d However unlikely it was that the two of us \u2014 lifelong New … <\/p>\n

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